PADDY and Christine McGuinness left viewers in tears as he broke down over his love for his three autistic children.
BBC viewers saw a different side to the popular comedian as he broke down in tears telling of the impact his three autistic kids have had on his life.
He also revealed how the weight of it all made him spiral into a depression that saw him end up in therapy.
In a series of powerful scenes in Paddy And Christine McGuinness: Our Family And Autism, the 48-year-old revealed his fears that twins, Leo and Penelope, eight, and five-year-old Felicity’s diagnosis may mean they never know how much he loves them.
Viewers were left in floods of tears as they watched the couple open up about their family life.
One wrote: “Just watching this and thank you Paddy and Christine. Tears are coming out because me and my wife have a son who has autism and he is five – everything you are saying is our life every day.”
Another posted: “Five minutes in and my wife is in tears. The masking part really hit home. Thank you Paddy, Christine and family.”
A third shared: “Paddy and Christine, I was crying. I had flashbacks like Christine as I experienced so many similar challenges.”
A fourth praised the show, writing: “If you didn’t see this programme and have an interest in understanding autism in children and adults, it’s well worth the watch.
“It’s real, honest, emotional and relatable.”
Paddy choked back tears in one scene, he said: “What gets to me with them all, and it’s only how I think, I think, ‘Will they ever know how loved they are? Do they understand what love is?
“When I’m with Leo every night in bed I will say to him, ‘Who loves you more than anything in the world?’. He’ll say, ‘you do’. Then I’ll go, ‘Do you love Daddy?’ and he’ll go, ‘yeah’.
“But I think to myself, ‘Is he just saying that, or does he know that?’”
The show sees Paddy and wife Christine admit that four years after the twins’ diagnosis they still struggle to understand the “complicated disability that affects how you see and interact with the world”.
Becoming tear, he said: “What gets to me with them all, and it’s only how I think, I think, ‘Will they ever know how loved they are? Do they understand what love is?
“When I’m with Leo every night in bed I will say to him, ‘Who loves you more than anything in the world?’. He’ll say, ‘you do’. Then I’ll go, ‘Do you love Daddy?’ and he’ll go, ‘yeah’.
“But I think to myself, ‘Is he just saying that, or does he know that?’”
The show saw Paddy and wife Christine admit that four years after the twins’ diagnosis they still struggle to understand the “complicated disability that affects how you see and interact with the world”.
Paddy at first refused to talk about it, but spiralled into depression and ended up seeing a therapist.
He said: “It chipped away at me, with all of the things you have to do, things you have to deal with as a parent of children with autism. It dawned on me that, that’s it, that’s it for ever. There’s no ‘they’ll get better as the years go on’.
“In that whole haze of clinical depression, if you’d have given me the chance to take autism away from my children, I would have said ‘yeah’ but autism is part of who they are, so why would I want to take away a part of my children which I love?
“I wasn’t unhappy for me. I was just stressed with the whole thing but I worked my bs off because I thought the only thing I can do for these kids is give them a life where they’re as comfortable as possible.
“What I should have been thinking is I need to give them as much love as I can. It’s more about having time with them. I realise that now.”
Paddy And Christine McGuinness: Our Family And Autism is available on BBC Iplayer.
